Summary

Delayed forensic audit starts at Kenya Pipeline

Tuesday, February 19, 2019 20:17

By PATRICK ALUSHULA

Former Kenya Pipeline Company MD Joe Sang. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The much awaited forensic audit at Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) started on Monday with the process expected to shed light on the oil dealings at the graft-tainted parastatal. State Department for Petroleum PS Andrew Kamau said on Tuesday that the process, coming after the January 31 deadline that had been set by Petroleum ministry CS John Munyes, will run for the next seven weeks. “The audit started yesterday (Monday). We couldn’t finish the tender in time so it kicked off yesterday to run for the next seven weeks,” said Mr Kamau in Nairobi.

This means that a comprehensive report about the activities of the lucrative parastatal, whose managing director quit last year amid a corruption purge, will only come out after March.

Oil marketers had last year written to KPC asking for an independent forensic audit following the loss of Sh1.2 billion worth of fuel through pilferage and spillage.

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Yesterday, the PS said the tender was awarded to Channoil Consulting, a London-based consultancy services firm that specialises in the midstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas business.

Channoil is not new to the Kenyan environment having participated in drawing up various oil and gas master-plans and also in preparing due diligence for the Mombasa refinery, according to information on its website.

Last year, KPC told oil marketing companies that more than 7.2 million litres of fuel were lost through spillage and another 4.4 million litres stolen at Koru, near Kisumu.

This was valued at about Sh1.2 billion.

About 10 leading oil marketers wrote a joint letter to KPC in October last year saying that they wanted to bring in their own technical experts from abroad to check the accuracy of stock statements issued by the corporation.